Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) Stock Rating Upgraded by TD Cowen

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) was upgraded by equities researchers at TD Cowen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $106.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $105.00. TD Cowen’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 21.03% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on NDAQ. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective on shares of Nasdaq in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target (up from $115.00) on shares of Nasdaq in a research note on Monday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Nasdaq from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 target price on Nasdaq and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $103.80.

Nasdaq Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ NDAQ opened at $87.58 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $92.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Nasdaq has a 12-month low of $64.84 and a 12-month high of $101.79. The company has a market cap of $49.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.02.

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Nasdaq had a return on equity of 16.90% and a net margin of 21.77%.The company had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Nasdaq will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nasdaq news, EVP John Zecca sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.01, for a total transaction of $450,045.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 125,674 shares in the company, valued at $12,568,656.74. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Adena T. Friedman sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.91, for a total transaction of $29,073,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,924,903 shares in the company, valued at $186,542,349.73. This trade represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 604,500 shares of company stock valued at $58,440,045 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nasdaq

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Nasdaq by 33.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,274,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,438,897,000 after purchasing an additional 6,840,735 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Nasdaq during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $530,100,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Nasdaq by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,648,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,275,902,000 after buying an additional 3,848,406 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Nasdaq by 62.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,266,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $900,061,000 after buying an additional 3,567,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC increased its position in Nasdaq by 82.0% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 6,073,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $589,897,000 after buying an additional 2,736,322 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.47% of the company’s stock.

About Nasdaq

Nasdaq, Inc is a global financial technology company that operates one of the world’s leading electronic securities exchanges and provides a broad array of products and services to capital markets participants. Its core activities include operating the Nasdaq Stock Market and other trading venues, developing and supplying market technology and matching engines to exchanges and trading firms, licensing market data and indices, and offering clearing, trade execution and post-trade solutions. The company also provides market surveillance, risk management and regulatory technology used by exchanges and regulators.

Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) as the first electronic stock market, Nasdaq has evolved into a diversified marketplace and technology provider.